


"It looks good on you."

by Shatterpath



Series: The Alex/Kelly Fluffy Ficlet Spite-a-thon [16]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Canon Related, Established Relationship, F/F, Family Feels, Non-binary character, Pride Parades
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-11 05:52:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19528105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shatterpath/pseuds/Shatterpath
Summary: Thank you, Tumblr anon, for your prompt of: I just really want a fic where Alex takes Kelly to her first pride.Done and done.Happy Pride Month All Year Long!





	"It looks good on you."

**Author's Note:**

> Note: Remember folks, Kelly Olsen's canon birth year is 1983. With that information, I had to do a little thinking why she had never been to a Pride Parade. Not that age means anything! Some go young, some go older, some never go at all. We're still a community. So I scraped together a bit of backstory and it all fit together. 
> 
> So, I've drawn on some VERY old memories, a lot of reading other's experiences, and the madness that is Los Angeles/National City, and away we go!

"Hey, Pride is this coming weekend," Alex mused suddenly where she was puttering over her computer. "Time flies. I skipped out last year, y'know…"

There was something wistful and a little bruised in her voice. Kelly understood it all too well. Hopping up from where she'd been lounging on the gray couch, she strode over, gratified when Alex automatically leaned back and tilted her head up in welcome.

That felt good. Every time.

Plunking herself into Alex's lap, Kelly hugged her, relishing the squeeze back. "Yeah, I know. It's always seemed fascinating and a little terrifying."

"You've never been to Pride?"

There was no accusation in the question and Alex's hand running up and down Kelly's back was nothing but gentle and sensuous. Still, she squirmed a bit.

"No… While on paper, it's no longer a stigma in uniform --though that doesn't cover the whole chain of command I was caught in with my fiancé-- there's still plenty of dangers. Not helped by my being small, black and a brain blender."

While there was certainly wryness in the statement, there was a taste of bitter there too. Gently, Alex tipped Kelly's chin up, and rested their foreheads together like an embrace. 

There had been no mistaking the pain in her eyes.

"Two points here. First, you are in no way obligated to say yes to going to Pride."

Sniffling a bit, Kelly nodded, their skins softly rubbing. "And the second?"

"Please tell me you didn't come up with the silly name of 'brain blender'."

Kelly's startled laugh improved her shaken equilibrium considerably. 

\----

She'd braved finally telling her brother the whole truth, she could brave this! That had been both the best and worst conversation between them in years. James had heard her out, expression unreadable until her nervous rambling had petered out.

Then he'd sighed heavily and slouched back in his chair. "Yeah, I kinda wondered. Didn't want to look to hard."

Understandably, she'd bristled, glare in full force, but James held up placating hands.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. It's just… this is a tough road to walk."

"James, while I am well aware that I'm your baby sister, I am also thirty-six years old, and frankly, been through some shit. And don't fall into that stupid trap of thinking sexuality is a choice!"

She watched a whole conversation of questions, arguments, recriminations and worries flash across his stubborn face before he forced himself to subside without voicing a word of it. Good. Maybe they could actually be adults about this.

"So why tell me now?"

Still hopped up on adrenaline and 'fight me', Kelly made no effort to hold back, relishing the naked shock on her big brother's face.

"Because I'm dating Alex Danvers."

She was still rather proud of herself for that. Particularly when, after a stunned moment, James had burst into slightly hysterical laughter.

While things were still a little… weird between them --understandably spilling over onto Alex as well-- they seemed to be… okay.

Though, she wasn't really looking forward to a repeat performance with her mother. Catching Alex's smile in profile as they waited at the crosswalk with hoards of other revelers eased the slithery twist of sheer, childish terror lodged in her heart. As though she felt the stare, Alex turned her head and her lopsided grin turned warm and intimate.

Yeah, that conversation with her mother was going to suck, but this was worth it.

West Hollywood could arguably be the Gayest Place In America, though Kelly would bet The Village would be challenging that with fists up, spoiling for a fight. So, notably, the yearly Gay Pride Festival was an outrageous blow out that stretched for miles.

They'd parked the Ducati --and being a passenger on that beast had been quite the experience-- within sight of the Beverly Center, the motorcycle able to take advantage of tight spots a car couldn't. Then they walked, joining the rainbow-hued throng that grew and grew and grew. And all of that was long before they were on the parade route itself! Clearly, the instructions to dress for heat and with her most comfy shoes had not at all been for the aesthetic. Though, dammit, she hated how crowds made her feel even shorter! And, seriously, there was more mostly-naked white boys than she ever needed to see.

Oh well, such is Pride.

Now, intellectually, Kelly knew there were plenty of gay people around. She knew handfuls of them, had seen photos and video, knew many of the stories. But being in the middle of it was a completely different experience. At first, it was a wall of deafening noise and rainbow paraphernalia, but like eyes adjusting to a dark room, details began to filter in.

There were women here too, peppered liberally with the more numerous men. They ranged over every shape, size and color, alone or in groups. There were little family units, some with curious children of all ages in tow, and elders from a touch of salt and pepper hair to frail seniors in wheelchairs and on scooters. There were opposite sex couples that could be queer or ally, happy knots of close knit squads that could be friends or polyamorous groups of all sorts of numbers. There were other flags and other sexualities peppered about; bisexual, asexual, pansexual, genderqueer, transsexual, it went happily on and on and on.

There were even ugly, dark little knots of those that hated, sequestered away behind protective barricades and with uniformed police that ranged from pleased to apathetic to terrifying.

And on that crowded street, packed in with the queer thousands, Kelly felt that particular emotional twang of terror and belonging. It was a journey many had taken, many had not, many who couldn't, and still more one day would. She held tight to Alex's hand in both of hers and took in the sights and smells and crushing noise.

"And the parade hasn't even started!" Alex laughed and leaned in for a quick, loving kiss. But the surroundings were a freedom and Kelly tugged her back in to kiss her for real. It was long and sweet and wet and glorious. Honestly, Kelly wasn't sure she was ever going to get used to that dopy smile she could garner in Alex.

She hoped she never did.

Hand in hand, the couple wandered, just to take it all in. While Alex might only be five and a half feet tall, she was powerful and had presence. That aggressive strut earned her some wolf whistles from appreciative onlookers that earned a shy and sexy grin while she did her best to protect her smaller girlfriend from the press of excited bodies.

They dawdled over a few booths from smaller vendors and dropped some money for a few baubles and an eye-achingly florescent rainbow shirt that Kelly was pretty sure had a glitter overlay. Grinning, Alex stripped off her tank top and jammed it into her waistband to shrug on the shiny monstrosity. With a shrug, Kelly laughed, "when in Rome," and stole the discarded gay pride t-shirt to swap it out for her own. It felt good to get a little money into the locals, because the press of corporate presence at the event didn't impress anyone, but such was modern life. 

By the time they approached the parade route, each had rainbow stickers on her cheeks, Alex was in a matching headband that together with the shirt made her look very seventies retro, and Kelly had a little flag tucked into her ponytail.

It would have been ridiculous anywhere else. There, surrounded the hordes of queerdom, it fit right in.

"Hey, Danvers!"

The hail made both Alex and Kelly look over to where a woman about Alex's stature was waving. She sported a short fringe of dark hair speckled with confetti and had the features of someone of middle/southern European blood.

"Hey, Vas!" Alex called back and muscled her way over with Kelly in her wake. "How the hell did you spot me in this crush?"

"I have you bugged," Susan deadpanned and Kelly laughed at Alex's startled look.

During introductions, there might have been a faint flicker of surprise at Kelly's last name, but Susan was hard to read. With Alex's long association with her older brother, Kelly was getting to the point of mostly expecting it.

"Good to meet the person who put a smile back on the grumpy boss' face!" Vas yelled over the music starting to swell and sync up, sending the crowd into more purposefully falling to either side of the street.

"I am not grumpy!" Alex protested, but there was no mistaking the amusement in her tone.

"You're J'onn's protégé, Alex. If you weren't grumpy, I'd worry!"

There was no heat to Alex's exasperated look and Vas just laughed, echoed by Kelly.

As the crowd packed tighter and tighter to the sides of the parade route, Alex wrapped Kelly up in a back-to-front hug and refused to be budged from their spot.

"She's nice!" Kelly raised her voice as she tilted her head towards Alex. "And funny! The look on your face was priceless."

"They," Alex replied with a grin. "Vas drops the female identification away from work and uncomfortable situations. Here? Definitely using the gender neutral. Just use they, theirs, them, and you'll be good!"

With a personal connection to this person clearly close to Alex, Kelly found herself pleasantly startled to find the dry academia of her work in helping others with their own minds and emotions, brought so colorfully to life.

Even as the constant thump of dance music began to swell to new and deafening heights, there was a ripple of excited shock as Supergirl herself swooped out the sunny sky.

But she wasn't alone.

By her side was an armored suit in green and black, spitting hot plasma to keep it aloft. To match the rainbow flag layered over Supergirl's cape, the terrifying Lexo Suit, once a symbol of destruction, had been painted with broad rainbow stripes from faceplate to groin and was armed only with beads and streamers and a bit of rainbow smoke. 

There was something joyous in how Supergirl and the last Luthor standing wove around each other over the crowd, showering them with baubles.

The crowd went bonkers.

They hovered over the parade start, arms aloft like an honor guard, the crowd rivaling the thunderous music that shook the ground.

"Show offs," Alex said fondly, right next to Kelly's ear.

The parade was a glorious cacophy of sound and color and motion, ranging from hilarious to really-not-family-friendly. But it was a reflection of a community long pushed away to find its own niches in what safety it could.

A true celebration.

Snuggling back into the wonderful woman she had unexpectedly bonded to through their mixed tragedies, Kelly turned her head to press kisses along Alex's cheek.

"Thank you for bringing me here!" she yelled over the racket, making a mental note to wear earplugs next year, and soaked up Alex's smile.

"It looks good on you!"

Kelly had to agree.


End file.
